Carter legacy hovers over grandson

Five days after Jason Carter jumped into the Georgia governor’s race, his grandfather, former President Jimmy Carter, delivered a speech urging a ban on the death penalty. Within hours, the newly minted candidate felt compelled to issue a retort: while he loves his grandfather, he told a reporter, “I believe in the death penalty for heinous crimes, and that won’t change when I’m governor.”

The episode spoke to the benefit and potential burden of the Carter surname for the upstart Democratic state senator, who is waging a long-shot bid to unseat first-term Republican Gov. Nathan Deal. Practically everyone in the Peach State knows the Carter name, and in state Democratic circles the ex-president remains a revered figure more than three decades after he left the White House.

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But despite growing Hispanic- and African-American populations in Georgia — demographic trends that have rekindled Democratic hopes of a political revival there — the state is still solid GOP terrain. And for many conservatives “Carter” is shorthand for failed liberalism and weak leadership.

Deal’s campaign has already made clear it intends to hang the “liberal” anchor on the grandson’s neck, saying that the potential matchup could be, in part, a “referendum on President Carter’s administration.”

Carter, a 38-year-old Duke- and University of Georgia-educated lawyer with an attractive young family, is a respected voice in the state Senate, and he has inspired a groundswell of enthusiasm in the state’s Democratic political class and in Washington. He’s pitching himself as a centrist Democrat who will work to reform education and state ethics laws. Highly ranked by the NRA, Carter stressed his pro-gun bona fides during a phone interview last week, at one point describing the gun with which he taught his child to shoot.

Some polls show he could put the governor’s seat in play as Deal also fends off primary challenges. Carter announced his candidacy earlier this month, a move that comes as Democrats are already energized about their 2014 prospects with Michelle Nunn — daughter of Georgia legend Sam Nunn, a former senator — seeking a Senate seat.

In the interview, Jason Carter said he deeply respects his grandfather but emphasized that he’s his own man.

“He says a lot of things,” the younger Carter said of his grandfather with a laugh, predicting that “we’re going to have a lot of differences in public.” He added, in a more serious tone, “It’s important for folks to know, I’m Jason Carter, I have my beliefs. He’s Jimmy Carter, he has his.”

Jimmy Carter left office in 1980 with a 34 percent approval rating, tying President George W. Bush’s final presidential number. As with most presidents, his standing has improved since then, clocking in at 56 percent nationally as of April, according to Gallup. His favorability numbers have come down since the 1990s amid an active and at times controversial post-presidency. But a recent internal poll showed that in Georgia, the former president had roughly 60 percent favorability, and his wife Rosalynn Carter came in at close to 70 percent, according to a senior national Democrat who saw those numbers.

Two areas where the Carter surname will undoubtedly be a big help are with name ID and fundraising, factors Republicans acknowledge as well. Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) said that Jimmy Carter’s relationships could help the younger Carter — who has represented a heavily Democratic Atlanta-area state Senate district since 2010 — introduce himself to the rest of the state.

“His task now is to get out throughout Georgia and meet the people,” said Johnson, who called Jason Carter a “shining star” in the statehouse.

Former Democratic Rep. Buddy Darden, who represented Georgia in Congress for six terms, said he expected the younger Carter would have to break with his grandfather from time to time on the policy front, but that overall having a “famous grandfather has its advantages.”

“He will have to build some effort to separate himself, his own opinions from those of President Carter,” Darden said. “At the same time, as time passes I think history is going to treat, is already treating, Jimmy Carter here in Georgia quite kindly.”